What I misjudged about the ‘unnecessary’ transfer that transformed Leicester City
Mads Hermansen committed a mistake in Leicester City’s 4-1 win over Blackburn, but it pales in comparison to the contribution he has made to the team’s style and control.
Relegation to the Championship drove Leicester City into a summer squad revamp, and with a number of players moving on free transfers and the club’s most important assets needing to be sold in order to create income, the club was left significantly short of choices in many parts of the team.
One position where they didn’t absolutely need to bring in new players was goalkeeper. While players in most other positions had left, City’s three goalkeepers remained.
Daniel Iversen was one of them. He had appeared in the final 12 games of the season and performed admirably. His shot-stopping skills was on a par with Danny Ward’s, with the Dane securing City a point in their 2-2 draw with Everton thanks to a series of brilliant saves.
The last time he was in the Championship, he was crowned player of the season while on loan at Preston. When so many other areas needed attention and money invested to strengthen them, it felt like Iversen was more than capable of being the club’s number one in the second tier.
His kicking and footwork were subpar, and certainly not at the level that Brendan Rodgers desired when Kasper Schmeichel was traded and he assumed he would receive a new goalkeeper last summer. But in the Championship, City were likely to control possession and play high up the pitch, so they didn’t require a goalkeeper with exceptional footwork until they returned to the Premier League.
So when Mads Hermansen arrived from Brondby for £5 million, it didn’t feel like a priority signing. City were still severely lacking in wingers at the time, and they were also lacking in midfielders.
But Hermansen has made an astounding difference. Without him, City would be nowhere like as good as they have been this season.
This follows his first major blunder as City’s first-choice goalkeeper. When Harry Winks was under tremendous pressure, the decision to try to find him with a goal-kick at Blackburn was poor, and it was punished.
But, understandably, it will not modify City’s strategy. City has transformed themselves into an 11-man ball team, which has dramatically enhanced their possession management and ability to generate attacks.
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